The numbers: Shortage of physicians expected to worsen

A nationwide shortage of primary care physicians is expected to become more severe as millions of additional people become insured in coming years through the national health care reform law.

Here is a look at the numbers:

Two to 4 million Californians, and 32 million people nationally, will obtain insurance in 2014 under the national health reform law.

The nation will need 45,000 additional primary care doctors within 7 years, including 2,000 or more in California.

Nearly one-third of all physicians are expected to retire in the next decade, just as more Americans seek care.

Only about 20 percent of American medical students go into primary care, according to the Council on Graduate Medical Education.

Many medical students graduate with student loan debt of $150,000 to $300,000, making it harder to choose primary care over the higher pay of many specialties.

Nationwide, the average primary care doctor earned $156,000 to $165,000 in 2011, the lowest pay of all the physicians surveyed, according to a Medscape study.

Many specialists made twice as much: gastroenterologists earned $303,000, urologists and anesthesiologists $309,000, and cardiologists $314,000. Radiologists and orthopedic surgeons topped the list at $315,000.